


Unhinged

by rizcriz



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Gen, basically the thing nobody asked for, prepare to worry for todd, todd might be unhinged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 11:45:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17918177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rizcriz/pseuds/rizcriz
Summary: Todd finds out Eliot's dead.





	Unhinged

“Eliot’s dead?”

Julia’s eyes slide shut, as Kady turns to glare at her. “Remind me why we didn’t tell him to get lost.”

“Because we wouldn’t be us if it weren’t for him.” Julia shakes her head, turning away from Kady to look at Todd. Who’s sitting up in his chair with wide, sad eyes. “Todd, we’re really busy, so if you want—“

“Is Eliot really dead?”

“What? Yes. The monster told Q today.” She runs a hand over her face, impatiently. “Todd, we really—“

“He can’t be.” He blinks owlishly, and slowly shifts out of the chair, shaking his head. “He’s like. Immortal. I don’t—“ He shakes his head again, taking a step closer to her. “Julia, it doesn’t make sense. Think about it. Eliot’s— _Eliot_. He can’t be dead.”

She sighs, reaching out and grabbing his arms by the wrists. “Hey, calm down. We’re figuring it out.”

“No, no, no. If Eliot’s dead, that means all of us can die. That means there’s no fucking point to the magic. To fighting. To—to any of it.” He pulls his hands away from his, holds them out in front of like he’s afraid to touch anything. “Eliot was the example.” He nods his head, like he’s trying to make sense of something impossible to understand. “If the example is gone, what the fuck follows?” His gaze darts back over to her, eyes wild. “Nothing’s—nothing’s going to be okay.”

Julia frowns, takes a step closer to him, even as he backs away. His signature smiles been replaced with a wild, confused frown. It looks . . . wrong on him. “Todd, you need to breathe.” She nods, “Can you breathe for me?”

“No, Julia—he’s a _stalker_. Don’t encourage him, jesus. Todd, get _lost_.”

Julia twists her neck around, “What the fuck, Kady?” She hisses, waving a hand, “He’s in shock.”

“He didn’t even know him!”

“Yes I did,” Todd interjects. “I knew him. I helped with homework. And, and, and—I have my name. A place because of him. I’m—I’m not a physical kid. He asked Fogg to—to let me stay in the cottage. I’m. Cocktails, I learned them from him. He’s—he’s like. A mentor.” Julia turns back around to look at him, feels all the air whoosh out of her lungs at the sight of him. Tears are carefully streaking down his cheeks, and his face is scrunched up like he’s he’s had a taste of the world, and it’s not quite right.

“Shit, Todd.”

“Julia—“

“Why bother—with any of it? If eliot’s dead? I—I wanted to be like him. Wanted to be brave and smart and—and a hero. Hero’s aren’t supposed to die.” He furrows his brow, back up until he bumps into the shelf of books behind him. “No, no. No. Heroes don’t die. This doesn’t—no. Eliot’s not dead. You guys are wrong.” He nods to himself, the tears on his cheeks glinting under the crappy Brakebills library lighting. “Yeah. That’s it. Confused. You’re confused.” A slow, scary smile builds on his lips. “Yeah. I get confused, sometimes, too. It makes sense. Yeah.”

“Todd . . .”

Todd nods again, hectic, and pushes away from the bookshelves, pointing a finger at nothing in particular. “Yeah. He’s fine. It’s just—confusion, is all.” He reaches up and sloppily wipes the tears away, though his smiles still watery when the sharp edges of it fade, and he’s left with his usual grin. He runs the back of his hand under his nose, and nods at Julia and Kady. “Eliot’s fine. You’re just confused. I—I have to go help Dean Fogg, now. I hope you. Figure things out with the monster.” He nods once more to himself, and then he’s gone, darting out the door, hand clutching his stomach.

“What,” Kady starts, “just happened?”

“I . . . have no idea. But once we’re done dealing with the monster—we’re dealing with that.”

“He’s fucking crazy.”

“I think it’s more than that.” Julia finally turns to look at her, eyebrows pinched almost painfully. “That was scary worrying.”

Kady huffs, crossing her arms. “I’ve seen more worrying things.” Julia gives her a deadpanned glare, and Kady sighs, “Fine! We’ll deal with it later.” She frowns, turning back to the book at her table. “Can we focus on making sure the other crazy in our life doesn’t get killed first?”

“Quentin’s not crazy.”

Kady’s eyebrows shoot up, but she doesn’t look back at her. Julia pretends not to hear her muttered, “Yeah, but you knew exactly who I was talking about,” as she turns back to her own book.

 


End file.
